Dehydrated? Worried about eyes

[Josie_Francis]

Hi everyone!

I’ve had susan my female veiled Cham for a month and a half now. Just last week I started to worry about her eyes, do they look sunken in? Does that mean she’s dehydrated?

I have an humidifier and dripper in her cage and hand mist her and her cage 3x a day. Recently since I’ve started to worry, I’ve been spraying her tons, she seems to like it. She closes her eyes and opens her mouth from time to time.

More info:

• Your Chameleon - I have a female veiled chameleon. Around 4 months old
• Handling - I take her out from time to time to let her climb on my houseplants or spray her with water over the tub while on my hand. Sometimes she puffs up and gets angry, other times she’s very sweet.
• Feeding - I am feeding her crickets right now. Gutloading them in a cricket keeper with carrots, apples, bell peppers and kale on rotation. She is eating 8-10 crickets a day. I have also been feeding her super worms occasionally to switch it up.
• Supplements - I dust her food with calcium without D3 everyday, Repticalcium. Every two weeks I dust her food with Reptivite, a multi vitamin that has D3.
• Watering - I have an automatic humidifier that goes on when her cage lights turn on in the morning and go off at night, so it is on all day. I also have a dripper.
• Fecal Description - Her feces are brown and white. Not sure of the consistency, when I’ve cleaned her cage her feces have already hardened and are very easy for me to remove.
• History - not sure

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - She has a open air screen cage that is 16x16x30
• Lighting - Right now she has a Zoo Med 5.0 UVB 13 Watt and a daylight blue reptile bulb that is 60W. I also have a nighttime light for her that just provides some extra warmth. I have been keeping this on during the day too. She seems to like it. Her day lights come on at 8:20 am and go off at 8:20pm.
• Temperature - I have a thermometer that measures the temp in her cage. It seems to be around 82 degrees at the basking spot.
• Humidity - I have not purchased a hygrometer yet so I am not sure of the exact humidity, but since I keep the humidifier on all day I am assuming it is at a good level.
• Plants - She has a mix of fake and real plants in her cage. The real plant I have in there is a dwarf schefflera.
• Placement - Her cage is a few feet off of the ground, placed on top of a desk. It is not by any air vents or fans.
• Location - We live in Boise Idaho!

Right now I’m worried about her eyes. Check out the photos I’ve attached, any feedback comments or advice would be really helpful!

 

[erin.rf]

Yes, definetly very dehydrated I would increase the amount of times you mist. also make sure your misting for atleast 2 minutes each time to make sure she’s getting enough water. good luck!

 

[Beman]

When you say she has a night heat light is it a ceramic bulb or is it a bulb that produces light? You can get a simple hydrometer to measure your humidity levels. I think having the humidifier on all the time during the day may be overkill. You will need to be careful because they can easily get a respiratory infection if their husbandry is not spot on. Check out the chameleon breeder podcast as well. His episodes in season three specifically speak to veileds lighting, hydration, nutrition etc. also read through the care sheet resources here. This will be a good way for you to learn more but a double check to what you have in place.

 

[JacksJill]

does she have a lay bin?

 

[Owlco]

Do you mist in the direction of your chameleon? I will sometimes hand mist my chameleon until I see him start to drink, and wait until he's stopped drinking. I also have my Mist king to go off for 4 times a day. I will hand mist once and twice a week depending on when I find his urate and how white vs yellow its looking.

Some things to help with hydration that you can consider doing if not already done:
- increase your misting (mist as long as you need to force your chameleon to drink) (sometimes i'm standing their for 5 minutes with my mister)
- Add more branches /fake leaves to your cage so theres more room for water droplets to sit.
- Add some ice cubes to the top of his cage to drip down.
- feed your chameleon bugs that have a high water mass (hornworms are good though can make the chameleons poop more soft)

Those are some things i have done to help manage hydration the past two years that I have owned my cham. Another user had also mentioned to buy a syringe and infuse water into some feeders. I have not tried this method yet but its to be considered.

Hope your little gal starts drinking more!

 

[Josie_Francis]

does she have a lay bin?

no she does not have a lay bin in her cage yet. When do they typically start laying eggs? I think I might set this up for her today

 

[Josie_Francis]

When you say she has a night heat light is it a ceramic bulb or is it a bulb that produces light? You can get a simple hydrometer to measure your humidity levels. I think having the humidifier on all the time during the day may be overkill. You will need to be careful because they can easily get a respiratory infection if their husbandry is not spot on. Check out the chameleon breeder podcast as well. His episodes in season three specifically speak to veileds lighting, hydration, nutrition etc. also read through the care sheet resources here. This will be a good way for you to learn more but a double check to what you have in place.

Thanks for the tips! I thought having the humidifier on all day would be a good thing, but maybe you’re right.

 

[Josie_Francis]

Yes, definetly very dehydrated I would increase the amount of times you mist. also make sure your misting for atleast 2 minutes each time to make sure she’s getting enough water. good luck!

Ah I’ve been misting so much recently since I’ve noticed her eyes! But I’ll keep misting a ton and hopefully see improvements. Thanks

 

[Josie_Francis]

Do you mist in the direction of your chameleon? I will sometimes hand mist my chameleon until I see him start to drink, and wait until he's stopped drinking. I also have my Mist king to go off for 4 times a day. I will hand mist once and twice a week depending on when I find his urate and how white vs yellow its looking.

Some things to help with hydration that you can consider doing if not already done:
- increase your misting (mist as long as you need to force your chameleon to drink) (sometimes i'm standing their for 5 minutes with my mister)
- Add more branches /fake leaves to your cage so theres more room for water droplets to sit.
- Add some ice cubes to the top of his cage to drip down.
- feed your chameleon bugs that have a high water mass (hornworms are good though can make the chameleons poop more soft)

Those are some things i have done to help manage hydration the past two years that I have owned my cham. Another user had also mentioned to buy a syringe and infuse water into some feeders. I have not tried this method yet but its to be considered.

Hope your little gal starts drinking more!

Thanks for all of these tips! I go through a cup of water through the mister every time I mist her cage, standing there for about 2 minute constantly spraying her cage. I will try to mist more frequently

 

[JacksJill]

no she does not have a lay bin in her cage yet. When do they typically start laying eggs? I think I might set this up for her today

i don't know veiled well enough to tell by her colors but it is possible for them to lay eggs as early as 6 months. sunken eyes can be a sign of pain as well as dehydration. It's good you are giving her a lay bin just in case.

 

[pmdaggett79]

Hornworms are sold at Petco. Give them a few days to mature, empty their droppings Dalit and in 4 days or so they’ll be ready to feed to her. One a day and she will get plenty of fluids.

Eye problems are a sign of something else going on with them. She maybe dehydrated. 4 months is a little early to develop eggs. However, to be on the safe side you should definitely make her a laying bin . If she’s egg bound she will for sure show signs of dehydration, lethargy, won’t eat or drink as much.

Definitely get some hornworms then make up a laying bin

 

[Josie_Francis]

i don't know veiled well enough to tell by her colors but it is possible for them to lay eggs as early as 6 months. sunken eyes can be a sign of pain as well as dehydration. It's good you are giving her a lay bin just in case.

She is only 3 months old, is that too early for eggs?

 

[Josie_Francis]

Hornworms are sold at Petco. Give them a few days to mature, empty their droppings Dalit and in 4 days or so they’ll be ready to feed to her. One a day and she will get plenty of fluids.

Eye problems are a sign of something else going on with them. She maybe dehydrated. 4 months is a little early to develop eggs. However, to be on the safe side you should definitely make her a laying bin . If she’s egg bound she will for sure show signs of dehydration, lethargy, won’t eat or drink as much.

Definitely get some hornworms then make up a laying bin

Do you think she is big enough for hornworms? The ones I’ve seen at petco look so big!!

In terms of a laying bin, am I supposed to keep that at the bottom of her cage at all times? Or do I transport her to a laying bin when she is ready to lay eggs? I have read both scenarios and am curious what is the best way. Her cage isn’t very large so I’m worried there won’t be much room.

 

[pmdaggett79]

Do you think she is big enough for hornworms? The ones I’ve seen at petco look so big!!

In terms of a laying bin, am I supposed to keep that at the bottom of her cage at all times? Or do I transport her to a laying bin when she is ready to lay eggs? I have read both scenarios and am curious what is the best way. Her cage isn’t very large so I’m worried there won’t be much room.

Yes, hornworms are find at her age. I wouldn’t give her giant ones just to be safe. Hornworms are mostly water so for even a little guy like yours it would be like eating a big juicy fruit.

The laying bin I would put in her enclosure first. Mine took right to it and started digging for the other side of the world. She may not be ready yet, but at least it’s there for her to use if you know what I mean.

 

[Josie_Francis]

Yes, hornworms are find at her age. I wouldn’t give her giant ones just to be safe. Hornworms are mostly water so for even a little guy like yours it would be like eating a big juicy fruit.

The laying bin I would put in her enclosure first. Mine took right to it and started digging for the other side of the world. She may not be ready yet, but at least it’s there for her to use if you know what I mean.

Awesome thanks so much! Will be buying her hornworms this week and will set up a laying bin just in case!

 

[JacksJill]

Rainbow Mealworms sells a container of hornworms ~24 for *
8 dollars I don't know wht the shipping costs.

 

[Josie_Francis]

Rainbow Mealworms sells a container of hornworms ~24 for *
8 dollars I don't know wht the shipping costs.

No way! That’s an online company? I’ll have to check it out that’s an awesome price compared to what I’ve seen

 

[erin.rf]

i just ordered the 24 count from rainbow meal worms for my jouvenile veiled as well. the cost w/ shipping came out to be around $15. also you can specify what size you want if your cham is still small, all my worms came in alive and the perfect size although my cham hasn’t been interested in them yet

 

[Beman]

I buy all my feeders from them. http://www.rainbowmealworms.net/ they have a great selection and you can order size specific and the quantity you need. Their phoenix worms are BSFL. If you order a few things shipping is not bad at all. I pay 7.50 for priority mail. I order enough to last me 3 weeks in between each order. But if you compare the prices of their feeders to those of a local pet store they are soooooo much better. My local store sells Dubia for 70 cents per dubia... I buy 100 at a time from rainbow mealworms for only $20 making them only 20 cents each. Same thing with crickets. My local place sells them for 1.80 a dozen but I can get 100 for 4 bucks with them. I have noticed that my feeders from them do not die off the way they do when I have to get them from my local store too.

 

[Beman]

i just ordered the 24 count from rainbow meal worms for my jouvenile veiled as well. the cost w/ shipping came out to be around $15. also you can specify what size you want if your cham is still small, all my worms came in alive and the perfect size although my cham hasn’t been interested in them yet

Did you get horn worms?